Pale
by titangirl161
Summary: Gin is injured in a battle, and he gets a visit from someone very dear to him. Given the choice of life and death, which will he choose? based on a song with the same name major fluffiness


Hey everyone, I'm back! Wheee! This is my newest/latest Gintama story! Hooray! Since I am very impatiently waiting for a back story, I'm loving the latest arc in which little pieces of Gintoki's past- how he met Shouyou-sensei come to light, and that coupled with a song were the inspiration behind this little fic. So I'll let my puppy-muse Scribble take us away with the disclaimer!

Scribble: We do not own Gintama. It would not be the awesome-ness it is if we did own it. Sigh.

Me: NOTE: While this is not a song-fic, it is inspired by the song Pale by Within Temptation. I listened to that the whole time while writing this, and I suggest looking it up on YouTube and listening to it while reading this-or not, whatever you prefer. Now enjoy!

Props to W2cm for her beta! Yay!

Pale

As the enemies they had been fighting ran off, obviously defeated, Shinpachi and Kagura felt copious amounts of relief at the sight- until they saw Gintoki fall. Gin, who had fought so hard to drive them back, to protect his younger friends, who were like his family, had in the last few moments of battle been gravely wounded but forced himself to stay on his feet. And now as the enemy retreated, he let out a small sigh of relief, knowing the other two were alright, and collapsed, bleeding profusely.

"GIN!" both screamed simultaneously and ran over to him. They turned him over to his back, and saw the deep gash that ran up his left side. He was unconscious, or just barely clinging to consciousness. He was breathing, but his breath was shallow and slow, and getting slower as the time passed.

"We have to get a doctor!" Kagura screamed.

"There's no time for that, he'll bleed to death first!" Shinpachi yelled back. "We have to do our best to stop the bleeding now, before he dies!"

Although both had limited knowledge of first aid of any kind, they managed to stop his wound from bleeding and as a joint effort, both managed to carry him back to Otose's snack house and lay him down. Otose looked at him a little sadly. "I don't think any doctor can do much better. It's up to him now if he lives or dies." With that she left the room, sadly, knowing that the two probably wanted to be left alone with him right then.

Shinpachi and Kagura looked at Gintoki sadly. There was nothing that could tell them how he was. Being an albino, his skin was always pale, his breathing had evened, but that didn't help, and either way he still wasn't moving. Shinpachi reached out and took the older man's hand. "Gin-san, it's us, we're right here."

Kagura took his other hand. "You were really brave back there. You fought really hard, yup. And because of that, Shinpachi and I didn't get badly hurt. It was because you protected us, just like you always have." Tears started forming in the young Yato's eyes.

Shinpachi felt tears coming to his own eyes as well. Gin might never wake up; he could possibly die, because he was still trying to protect them. It was their fault he was like this now. Why couldn't they be stronger? 'Why can't we be strong enough to protect you, Gin-san?' he wondered miserably to himself. "Please don't leave, Gin-san, please come back to us. You're too important to us to leave; we could never replace you in a million years, even if we tried."

Kagura let her tears fall. "Gin-chan, you can't go! We can't be the Yorozuya without you! You're lazy, and have dead fish eyes, and you read JUMP and drink strawberry milk like a little kid, and you never even paid us once, but we don't care! We still love you! So please don't go!"

She stopped at that point, just crying, and Shinpachi started to cry as well, still holding the older man's hand.

Inside Gintoki, he felt he was lying down in the middle of a battlefield, while dressed in his present day clothes, wounded and close to death. And in there he heard a voice.

"Gintoki, what are you doing lying down here? Are you still hiding?"

'I know that voice!' Gintoki thought. 'I'd know it anywhere…it's Shouyou-sensei! But wait…if I'm hearing him…does that mean I'm dead?'

As if reading his thoughts, Shouyou-sensei answered, "No, you're not dead, not yet at least. You have the most amazing survival ability I've ever seen in anyone…you just don't seem to get along well with death, eh?"

Gin, who was face down in the ground still, could hear the man's voice clearly, and realized it hadn't changed at all. Gin, well, he had changed a lot, done things he wasn't exactly proud of, tried his best to live his life well, but still made so many mistakes…but through all that time, his sensei hadn't changed at all.

The other man continued. "I'm not sure if you can hear them or not, but they're calling to you. You're very lucky, Gintoki. You've found such good people, not one, but two. Not everyone can get that."

Gin swallowed and opened his mouth, with his eyes still closed, facedown. "Sensei…I know I haven't exactly lived a good life. I know I've screwed up a lot. I know I've forgotten some things you taught me, and I know I've done things that would not make you proud of me. But…for once…ever since I met those two, they've changed me. I'm not sure how, but they did. It's just something about having them around, and for once…for once in my life, I feel like I'm doing the right thing. I feel as though this is something that would make you proud of me. And it's made me so happy. I feel the most alive when they're with me. So please, sensei…please lend me your strength, so I can go back, so I can stay with them just a little longer."

Shouyou-sensei lifted the younger man's chin up so he could see Gintoki's face, and Gintoki felt his hand, all too familiar still, and tears fell from his eyes, but he kept them closed. He couldn't open them. He didn't dare to. If he did, he knew if he saw his sensei's face again after so long, he might lose all resolve to keep living. But even still, he could still almost hear his teacher's smile as he spoke. "I've always been proud of you, because even while making mistakes, you've learned something from them. I knew I'd never have to worry about you, because you would never lose your heart and never give up, and I'm just glad you found happiness in the life you've chosen. But you don't need my strength to return. You have enough inside your own soul to get back. So get up, and go to the mist. Your angels are waiting for you there."

Gintoki opened his eyes. His teacher was gone, but he saw a mist in front of him, and could see two figures inside it. He slowly got to his feet, and for a moment swayed unsteadily, but he felt gentle hands on his back, pushing him forward, and he didn't need to look to see who it was. And as he stumble-ran forward into the mist, he got to a place where he could see the two angels, he stopped a second, stared, and then smiled. "Funny," he mused out loud to himself, and tears fell down his cheeks. "I never knew angels had glasses…or that they had red hair either."

And he reached out both hands to them, and each took one of his hands.

Gin opened his eyes with a groan, and heard two voices call, "Gin-san/chan?" He looked over, and remembered the reason he had to stay…it was the two angels that made his life so much brighter. He gave them both his trademark grin and said, "Hey you two, I'm back."

Both were still holding onto his hand and Kagura jumped on him, hugging him, and even Shinpachi smiled. Gin groaned at the girl who launched herself on him, but still grinned. "You two didn't need to worry. I would've been alright." 'After all,' he thought to himself, 'I'm always all right, as long as you two are at my side.'

Scribble: Aww, another fluffy ending.

Me: I can't help it! These three make me want to write Yorozuya-fluff whenever they're together! I'm sorry if it's too much! Well, there's my latest one-shot! Yay! After this I'm working on a D. Gray Man fic then a short break for me. So let me know how it is. Worthless flames suck. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Good reviews are loved. Long Live the Yorozuya!

-titangirl161

What2callmyself: Acheivement Unlocked: Fluff Master


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